Environmental sustainability in Almedalen

The Almedalen Week, considered to be the most important forum in Swedish politics, took place between July 2 and July 9 in Visby. A dense week with over 4 000 events and 40 000 unique visitors.

Safe to say this is a week full of networking opportunities and inspirational meetings. We are glad that foodtech has gained a lot of attention recently in the public discourse regarding the environment. Technical solutions will be one of the keystones in the global efforts to reach the 2030 sustainable development goals.

We at Whywaste are therefore extra proud that we were given the opportunity to take part of and participate in a number of events throughout the week, including Coop and Breakits joint event around foodtech. In gazing sun on Wednesday July 6, Camilla Björman from Breakit interviewed two of our founders; Kristoffer and Martin in a segment called “The hot chair - how can startups reduce food waste?“. We feel honoured and thankful for the many attendees who were keen to hear about our work of reducing food waste. During the course of the week we also got the chance to meet with other important actors, both startups and more established players. It is exciting and inspiring to see the great drive and enthusiasm surrounding the many efforts towards a more sustainable future, with less food waste and more understanding of the food industry. There are no limits to where the combination of foodtech and innovation can take us. It is an industry that have just started to undergo heavy digitalisation. A proof of that is the startup Grönska that have developed an innovative vertical farming system, making it possible to grow vegetables in large quantities in inner cities. Another example from Alemdalen is the expanding startup Simris Alg who gave us deep insight into how it’s possible to produce Omega 3 from algae, 100% plant based. Both these startups where also involved on stage during Coop and Breakits joint event.

Down on the beautiful seaside promenade, Sweden Foodtech put up a tent where they hosted interesting lectures and conversations around research and development, foodtech and the challenges a lot of startups face.

We want to reach out to everybody involved at Coop, Breakit and Sweden Foodtech and say thank you for inspiring events and for inviting us to participate.